Yes, We've Met Before
by Cassandraishere
Summary: Peeta and Katniss have been a unit ever since the bread. Together they've cared for Prim and braved many hardships, their relationship is stronger than any restraint known to man. Now they are both in the Hunger Games and attempting to get the other out alive, how will they do? How will Prim be as she watches the teenagers who raised her in the Hunger Games, how will Gale cope?


Chapter One: Our Worries

Katniss

"Welcome, Welcome!"

I breathe deeply and shut my eyes, attempting to push own the rising panic and nausea. I gag slightly, my heartbeat hammers against my ears. I've been dreading this day, as I usually do. I clench my fists and tense up my body. Today is Prim's first reaping, my dearest sister, the light in my eyes, my reason to live. I haven't felt this anxious in my life; my heart is attempting to leap out of my throat as Effie Trinket babbles about the Capitol on the stage, her ridiculous accent giving my ears a piercing pain. The torture is to continue, the mayor is yet to speak, the lame pro-Capitol clips are yet to play, and the tributes won't be chosen for at least another hour.

I feel a pair of eyes on the back of my head as I stand here twitching. Immediately I turn to look at them, searching for their comfort in the mist of this storm, the safety in the middle of this chaos, the breath in my lungs I need to live.

His cerulean orbs meet mine with determination, almost as if he's willing good things to happen, as if he's mere presence will fix things. As expected, the knot in my chest relaxes slightly when he smiles at me. His lips move 'Meet me at your place?' he mouths 'After?' I nod with enthusiasm. This is our tradition; it's been so for years, something to pull us through this torture.

Peeta flashes another reassuring smile before Mayor Undersee rambles on in his deep Baritone about the great honor that is the Hunger Games. We both turn to stare at him, yet Peeta's attempts to calm me stay with me, reminding me of gentler times…

_I had to thank him._

_ The baker's son, my classmate; I've never spoken to him, not once, yet he offered me kindness. He fed me when I was starving, he saved my life. I stand within the entrance of the school building with Prim's small hand clutched tightly between my thin fingers. I need her for this; I can't possibly do this alone._

_ We walk briskly down the hallway; Prim is confused, not oddly. She is only in her first grade of schooling and has only seen but small piece of the school. I escort her towards the side crawling with the other eleven-year-olds. I have to even out this situation; nobody must own anyone anything I won't allow it._

_ The blond boy sits against the wall, his chin leans against his knees as he observes the children about him. A group of his friends are engaged in animated conversation around him and his older brother and as far as I can see, dear friend, sits beside him in comfortable silence._

_ When his brother sees me he pokes him and points at me. He mumbles something to the younger boy and his blue eyes snap to meet my steel ones._

_ Prim and I stand before him; there is a stir among his friends for a handful of seconds before they leap back into their conversation. Prim tugs at my arm and stares at me questioningly. I look at him, unsure of what do. Should I smile? Should I be firm? Should I be friendly?_

_ Instead I simply say what I've come here for "Thank you"_

_ He shrugs "It was no trouble"_

_ I stare blankly at the harsh marks that color his face. The bruises that are blossoming into a full purple and his swollen right eye "It meant everything to me, I _needed_ to thank you"_

_ He stares at me._

_ "I'm Katniss" I mumble awkwardly, unsure of what to do with myself "I'll have to find a way to pay you back"_

_ "Katniss, I know who you are. And no, I don't want you to pay me back" he cracks the brightest smile I've ever seen "I wanted to help"_

_ I sigh feeling an odd combination of defeat and anger "There must be something…"_

_ He cuts me off "Ask me my name" he speaks around a friendly smile._

_ I frown, guarded. He stares at me with an open expression and a hopeful smile, his blue eyes are filled with so much light, I can't help but let my face soften and a smile curl around my lips "What's your name?"_

_ "My name is Peeta" he smiles wider than before, beautiful light shines within his bright blue eyes making his injuries unnoticeable._

Mayor Undersee motions with his hands as I hastily brush away my tears. That was a beautiful day for me, the day Peeta Mellark broke into my world with only a smile and his blue eyes as his weapon of choice. I could threaten him all I want with my bow and arrow but one smile from him and I'd probably grow wings for him if he wanted me to.

Peeta and Prim, they are my world, my everything, my reasons to breathe.

We stare at each other some more, having a silent conversation. He shoots me worried looks and I attempt to smile while I cry freely. He tries to hide the obvious flinch of rage he gets every time the Hunger Games is referred to as an 'honor'. He hates that, we all do.

I really wish I could hold his hand.

Every time I've been afraid Peeta's been there to hold my hand. Every time a new bruise blossomed across his fair complexion I offered him my hand, when I hungered he held my hand and sneaked with me into the woods, when I shook with tears over my predicament with my mother he was the to mend me with powerful thread. When Peeta was frustrated I listened and gripped his hand, when he worried I let him ramble, when he broke we were always together. We live in a harsh world. Peeta who scurries across the bakery searching for crumbs to live off of while I dig into the frozen soil with my ravished fingertips.

Yet we have each other, we make do.

I really wish that we'll be able to continue our small tradition. We meet at my house after the reaping, always. Peeta manages to sneak a few loaves of stale bread, Prim brings the cheese and milk she reaps from Lady and I bring rabbit, our favorite. All of this with a small amount of strawberries is our feast. We celebrate our life after the reaping's finished, Peeta insisted we continue this annually to maintain some sense of sanity at least.

It's a nice event, you could almost forget about poverty for a moment, when surrounded by all who love you.

The Mayor steps away from the podium as a screen flashes images about the Dark Days, and the beginning of the hunger games. My eyes avoid the screen and search for a different pair of blue eyes; these should be clear and innocent, childlike.

Prim.

She stares at me, her terror visible. I nod to her the way Peeta does to me when I worry and smile warmly for her. Her name is only in there once, once. She should be alright. Soon she'll be laughing over Peeta's interpretation of the butcher and munching on strawberries. Soon she'll be home.

Effie Trinket reaches her microphone much too soon.

The odd Capitol woman gushes over the video as I observe my sister with all the love and worry I feel. She's basically my daughter, she's basically Peeta's daughter also. We've raised her, we've protected her, we've cared for her since she was seven years old.

_"Katniss are you ever going to marry Peeta?" my fingers pause mid-braid; I stare intently at the golden hair within my fingers and expertly avoid my sister's gaze._

_ "Where did that come from?" I compose myself with a breathless laugh and continue to braid her hair._

_ "Well, all the others have Mommies and Daddies. I have a Katniss and a Peeta, shouldn't you be married?" Now I laugh honestly at the eight year olds logic and I finish her second braid._

_ "That's not how it works. You already have a Mommy and a Daddy" I remind her gently as I tightly knot her shoelaces._

_ Prim giggles and skips off ahead of me singing "You _will_ marry Peeta!"_

She's teased us ever since.

All happy memories evaporate as I observe Effie. She moves about like an excited bumble bee. Her fingers wiggle and her words are drawn out much longer than necessary.

It frustrates me.

"Ladies first!" the woman eagerly walks towards a large glass bowl filled with the names of young girls, my heart stops as I watch her fingers reaching, digging further in the glass bowl. The ruffling of paper is all I hear, the breath the district is collectively holding chokes me.

It'll be fine, we'll be fine. We'll go home and laugh and eat. We'll live.

Breathe Katniss. I remind myself sounding oddly like Peeta.

We'll be fine.

Effie traps a slip of paper between two pink claws.

We'll be home soon.

She adjusts her wig.

Peeta will carry Prim on his shoulders.

Her heels click towards the microphone.

Peeta will kiss me goodnight before he goes back to the bakery.

She opens the slip of paper.

We'll be fine.

"Primrose Everdeen!" Effie announces as if it were a great gift instead of a curse. She smiles brightly and blinks constantly as she searches for my sister among the crowd. Her abnormally long eyelashes shake in the wind, the rhinestones among them twinkle.

No.

Peacekeepers reach for my sister and begin to haul her to the stage.

No, this will not happen.

They begin to guide her down the walkway; the stage comes closer and closer. I think I hear Peeta cry out in pain.

No, not while my heart's still beating.

Not my sister, not the girl with her shirts tail hanging out.

Not my baby, not my Little Duck, not _my _Prim.

"Prim!" I shout as I shove people out of my way in an effort to look for her "Prim! No Prim no!"

Peacekeepers reach me and attempt to haul me away but I fight them, I need to get Prim, I know it's futile I can't just grab her and run.

I need to get her home; I need Peeta to take her away from here.

I need to do _something_.

"No! I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute!" I yank myself out of my restrainer's arms and run towards my sister, she's in tears screaming my name and shaking her head. I cup her cheeks and stare into her eyes which are wide and wild.

"Go Primmy, find mom and Peeta, and stay safe"

"K-katniss?" she mumbles as Peeta reaches her and pulls her away "Katniss! Katniss I love you!"

"I love you too" I shout as I'm yanked towards the stage and made to stand beside Effie. She says something in an inappropriately bubbly voice and I gawk at her with hatred. I just need to get out of this, maybe die quickly at the cornucopia; I need to get a proper goodbye with my family.

"And now for the boys!" my eyes find Peeta's. He's standing in his designated section again staring at me in horror. This couldn't be happening, we haven't spent enough time together, we haven't lived long enough, and we haven't laughed and smiled enough. We haven't done anything valuable, we can't just end here.

I can't just leave him, we promised each other we never would.

I should have loved him with more intensity, I should have been there more often, and I should have held him tighter and kissed him longer.

"Peeta Mellark"

The silence is enough to drive anyone mad. Most eyes are drawn to Peeta as he moves towards the stage. They all know already, they know about us and the little family we've fashioned together. They know he's my everything, they know this can't possibly happen, they know this isn't right.

Yet nobody says a word.

I'm visibly shaking as I fall to my knees deflated and defeated. A hoarse cry escapes my lips, a desperate "No!" accompanied by a miserable sob. I shake my head as we stare at each other, this isn't really happening. This is a terrible nightmare; I'll wake up to Prim and we'll walk to school accompanied by Peeta. We'll be fine, we'll live, and we'll die on our own terms.

As he reaches the stairs I shakily get to my feet, slowly I walk towards him.

"The tributes for the seventy fourth Hunger Games!" the crowd erupts into forced cheer after Effie Trinkets exited squeal as I break into a run. People are immediately silent as I leap towards Peeta and embrace him shaking. He wraps me in his arms and together we cry.

Maybe if we're lucky we'll die together.

….

"I'm so sorry Catnip" Gale whispers as he hugs me tight "this shouldn't have happened not to the two of you"

"I don't know what to do. I don't want to live without him, Gale" I whisper back in a strangled voice shaking violently.

"I don't know what to say" Gale rubs my right arm "there isn't anything I can do"

_You could have volunteered_. I involuntarily think. Why wouldn't anyone volunteer for him? Peeta's perfect, his life is worth sacrificing anything for.

I cringe at my own dark thoughts.

"There isn't" I agree meekly.

"Times up" announces a Peacekeeper at the door, Gale squeezes my right shoulder and nods. He walks away with an air of utter defeat.

I stare at the wall for a second thinking about my current predicament. Peeta Mellark has been my best friend, boyfriend, partner in both crime and life. Peeta means a lot to me. I can't kill him, and I will not allow him to die.

I am left with only one option then.

When he gets back things can eventually be alright. He'll care for Prim and my mother, they'll mourn together the way a family does after a tragedy, and then they'd begin the slow trek towards their futures. Someday Peeta would fall in love again and maybe even get married. Prim would flourish into a young woman and my mother would die an honorable death of old age.

All I have to do now is get Peeta out of the arena alive.

The peacekeepers export me towards the train in a tight formation, insuring that I do not find a way to escape, not that I would go anywhere anyways.

The moment I enter the fancy car of the Capitol's train my eyes land on Peeta and I know the major flaw to my plan for him. He won't co-operate.

With one look he says it 'I promised to take care of you'

_It's much too warm today, its mid-October and the heat in beating down upon us mercilessly. Peeta and I are in the woods, the only place I'm calm in and the only place his mother won't find us. Ever since we'd become friends she has taken it upon herself to burn that relationship to the ground. She hates my family; Peeta said it was because his father will always love my mother more than his own wife. I had smirked at the news; I really hated the woman and loved being the source of her frustration._

_ Today is Peeta's birthday, he's turning twelve. This isn't a good year for him, the reaping's will be occurring in a matter of weeks and he is now legible. I brought him here to share with him the sense of freedom I experience here. I normally am only in the woods with Gale, an older boy who hunts alongside me, we don't know each other well and I'm still hesitant whether or not I should trust him. Peeta said it'll be alright, I can always shoot Gale if he tries to steal my money. That's Peeta, always making me laugh._

_ "Hey Kat!" someone shouts behind me "Look!"_

_ I turn and find Peeta crouched beside a large tree, his face betrays amazement as he stares intently at a bush "Get over here!" he insists._

_ I obey him and sit on my legs besides him. My eye lands on a baby chipmunk which is nestled among the bush. His thin tail twitches and its wide eyes asses us in fear._

_ "He's not supposed to be here" I comment and lay my hand against Peeta's, he's attempting to feed the animal some berries we've collected "don't"_

_ He stares at me "his mother may be around here, if you feed him all hell breaks loose, you seriously need to learn about how animals work"_

_ He scoffs "He's not a bear"_

_ "The instinct is the same. We should let him be, he's terrified of us already" I stand and dust myself off, feeling filled with authority as I do so. I stare him down waiting for a contradiction._

_ As always he surprises me._

_ He dusts himself off and stands beside me; he intertwines our fingers and guides me deeper into the forest "You're the boss Kitty"_

_ I pout, mostly out of confusion, he never takes the bait when am being unnecessarily arrogant. He's always so humble, so kind._

_ "Why do you call me Kitty?" at this point I actually want to fight him, because of some stupid principal I feel must be honored._

_ "Because you're like a cat; you pretend to hate the world when in reality you just want someone to scratch the back of your ears" he grins at me, amused at my pout and my general sourness. I am no match to Peeta, he always finds a way to get me to stop being insanely confrontational._

_ How does he do that?_

_ "I don't want anyone scratching my ears" I insist half-heartedly. I've already lost by now. "I do like it when people touch my hair though"_

_ He laughs; this is me asking for forgiveness, I invite him to mess with my hair "Noted"_

_ We mess around the woods for at least half an hour, resembling two-year-olds as we do so. We only collect food if we're hungry and prepare it on the spot. We chase each other around until we get tired enough to collapse, then we fight each other with branches. When I've finally beat Peeta (after eight attempts) we lie down on a grassy area and stare at the sky._

_ "That was fun" he says drowsily "I think you actually stabbed me with that branch hard enough to draw blood, but it was still fun"_

_ I smile and study his tired face "I'm sorry! I'll fix you up, but next time I suggest you get a better fighting stance"_

_ He snorts "The point was having a bad stance, Kitty I let you win"_

_ "Did not!" I insist loudly and sit up "you lost to a girl, admit it!"_

_ He grins and shakes his head slowly, I shove him playfully "you're a sour loser, you know that?" his grin grows wider with each word, almost as if he's proud of himself._

_ I roll my eyes "I didn't _lose_ you did"_

_ "Uh Huh" he lifts his eyebrows mockingly "If you say so"_

_ I open my mouth to respond but no sound has a chance to come out. Peeta grabs me and shoves me to the other side, gently, carefully, silently he gets to his feet. The both of us are transfixed in our fear as we stare blankly at the creature in front of us._

_ A bear, a huge bear, its dark mane moves with the breeze and its large paws move towards us._

_ Oh God, what now?_

_ We can't outrun it, we can't climb a tree and hide from it, and all we can do is gawk at it. A bear has the power to kill us with the flick of its wrist. We are at the mercy of the beast now. There is nothing to be done._

_ Peeta signals for me to stay put with his hand. Slowly he reaches for a knife that hangs from my belt; I stare at him in confusion. There is no way for him to take the bear down with a lowly knife. The bear sniffs about, inspecting the area for leftover food and seems to be momentarily distracted by the remains of the squirrel we had earlier._

_ Peeta gives me a look, 'trust me' he mouths. I feel tears sting my eyes._

_ He throws his arm back and sends the knife flying, it lands on something above the bears head, and I gasp in amazement a smile creeping into my expression._

_ Peeta just threw a knife at a nest of birds. Not any birds, hunting birds._

_ Much like hunting dogs, these black birds hunt other animals, they often opt for animals mush larger than themselves, the way some snakes manage to eat entire cows. They are an experiment, but not quite. They are the result of interbreeding some of the world's most deadly animals, they're original purpose was to be used as a form of punishment, if one broke a major law the capitol wold lock you in a room and release the hunting birds._

_ There were two flaws to this plan._

_ The first one, and the minor problem of the two, was the bird's unwillingness to the tamed. It is impossible to train them, since they refuse to follow orders. They simply won't do it; they cannot grasp the idea of authority, something the Capitol has no tolerance for. The second flaw, the worst, will always work in our favour, especially in a situation as this one. The hunting birds refuse to hunt humans. No one quite knows why. Not even if you starve one of them and present them with the fresh flesh of a human being would they eat it. They simply find humans unappetising; they won't even consider attacking a human being._

_ Once the birds have descended on the bear Peeta grips my hand and breaks into a run, he doesn't stop until we are near the fence. Here he collects me in a tight hug._

_ "That was some unbelievable luck" I mumble in a silly attempt at humor "thanks"_

_ He grips me tighter, as if I may disintegrate into thin air at any given time "Katniss, I need you to understand, I will protect you, no matter what"_

And he has, in so many other situations it would be impossible to count them all on my fingers and toes_._

There is no way he's breaking that promise, I can see it now. I'll have to find a way to get him out of there, even if he'll hate me for it.

This is what we do, we protect each other.

* * *

_**Thank you for reading my story! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to get a good response so I may continue on for a bit, this story is just an exploration for me, I'm not quite sure where I'm taking it so your input is highly appreciated!**_


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